LAX82AA106 · Boeing KC-135A
Boeing KC-135A and American Yankee AA-1 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82AA106
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Unknown
Aircraft 1 · Boeing KC-135A
- Aircraft type
- Boeing KC-135
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- KC135
- Operator
- Usaf
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZTo Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZ
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Unknown
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · IFR initial approach
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · American Yankee AA-1
- Aircraft type
- American Yankee AA-1
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6160L
- Operator
- James D. Breshears · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZTo Livermore Municipal Airport (LVK), Livermore, CA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › VFR procedures, improper
- Pilot of other aircraft › VFR procedures, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE USAF KC-135 WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN & EXECUTING A TACAN 3L APCH TO LUKE AFB. THE AA-1 HAD DEPARTED SKY HARBOUR ARPT &HAD BEEN RELEASED BY PHOENIX TRSA. THE AA-1 WAS HEADING WESTERLY IN AIRSPACE DESIGNATED AS A SPECIAL TRAFFIC AREA & WAS REQUIRED TO HAVE BEEN AT OR BELOW 2,000 FT MSL. A PLT OF ANOTHER ACFT WHO WAS TRAILING THE AA-1 STATED THAT A LOW BROKENCLOUD COVER WAS ENCOUNTERED & HE HAD TO DESCEND TO ABOUT 2,000 FT TO REMAIN 500 FT BELOW THE BASES. HE STATED THE PLT OFTHE AA-1 DID NOT DESCEND BUT APPEARED TO BE SKIMMING ALONG IN & OUT OF THE BASES OF THE CLOUDS. HE NOTICED THE KC-135 DESCENDING THROUGH THE CLOUD DECK FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY THE COLLISION. THE COLLISION OCCURRED ABOUT 5 MI SOUTH OF LUKE AFB AT AN ALTITUDE OF 2,500 FT MSL. THE LOGBOOK OF THE AA-1 PLT INDICATES THIS WAS HIS FIRST TRIP TO THE PHOENIX AREA. LUKE AFB WAS DEPICTED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE SECTIONAL CHART ONLY. VOR AIRWAY #16 WAS SPLIT ALONG AN E-W LINE WITH THE NORTHERN & SOUTHERN HALVES BEING DEPICTED ON EACH SIDE OF THE CHART.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82AA106
- Event ID
- 20020917X02154
- Case number
- LAX82AA106
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: edf9da17a6888fccd5fb3ced031b509336ff43781b3b8bdd998e0b3213510bd8; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:35:13.182Z.